


Pack it all up

by purplefox



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics), Nightwing (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bat Family, Gen, Grief/Mourning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-14
Updated: 2016-11-14
Packaged: 2018-08-30 23:54:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8554651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/purplefox/pseuds/purplefox
Summary: Dick had always been the one to never cling to things.





	

Going home after had been hard. Getting up the next day and having it still true had been hard. They all coped in their own ways and they had a façade to put on for their day to day lives but that did not change the fact that it was hard.

Jason crossed his arms and leaned back against the wall. He had come as supervision. He had been through this shit before. He had put others through this shit before but that did not make it easy. Would never make it easy. Still, of all things to have to do he had never dreamed he would be helping pack up Dick’s things.

They weren’t going to throw them away either. Unless it was things like food. Still he had never thought he would be doing it. That they were doing it alone, Babs wouldn’t come… Kory had wanted to but Jason had promised her if he found something to spare for her he would. It wasn’t as if they all weren’t doing it.

Not like he had much in the first place. Clothes, a few little things but in the end besides his work and his friends… Dick didn’t have much. Jason guessed he had never managed to grow out of the old circus mentality.

Always ready to move on, that had been Dick for them. It was hard to believe that he was gone. Jason clenched his fist. He had been fighting with the idiot just a month ago. Got to punch him in the face on patrol. He had been forced to eat lunch with him not too long after that but that was how things went.

A box was pushed outside and Jason looked as Damian appeared in the doorway. The kid looked so dead inside and honestly Jason could understand that. Just because he didn’t live at the manor did not mean he did not understand how it must be for the kid. Dick had been the buffer. Right now Bruce… well Jason did not want to think about him.

He followed Damian back into the apartment and winced at the stripped place. So empty and it all had been done too quickly. He took a seat next to Tim and sighed at the papers the other boy was flipping through. “Where next?” He asked.

“This is it he just had this place and the manor.” Tim’s voice was dull. “We can head back any time now.”

Jason frowned. “You sure?” He questioned. It did not sound right.

“Batman has taken care of the other safe houses.” Tim spoke up.

“But what about the house around the river?” Jason pressed. “Just off Bludhaven? Had he gotten rid of that?” He got two pairs of eyes staring at him. “You don’t know what I’m talking about?”

“No.” Tim responded. “What are you talking about?”

“When I was Robin… Dick had this place off B’s radar. Swore me to secrecy and all.” Jason remembered. “It was a pretty cool place but small.”

“You remember where it is?” Damian demanded.

“Sure do.” Jason answered.

X

He had no idea why Dick had never told anyone about it. It made him feel good inside that apparently he was the only one that knew but… he could have told the kids. The kids were Robin after all and Dick had kept up the place’s upkeep judging by the security and how long it had taken Jason to break in.

Not that much dust assaulted his nose when the door cracked open finally so Jason guessed it was a hiding spot. Maybe for those times Bruce and Dick fought and Dick fucked off for days and was unreachable.

He heard the other two poking around behind him but he jogged up the steps that had been wood when he had first come but were now stone. At the top a whistle escaped him because there was the bed and the window he remembered but everywhere there was just stuff. Everywhere.

Wasn’t Dick supposed to be the one who couldn’t be held down by things? Wasn’t he the one that was good with the clothes on his back? When had he become such a packrat?

“Wow.” Tim breathed behind him. “Look at all this stuff.”

“It’ll take forever to go through this.” Damian’s attitude had come back but Jason watched the careful way he manoeuvred around the boxes and bags before he settled down.

“Guess this one will be a real job.” Jason sighed. “Watch out for spiders.”

“Better than bats.” Tim shot back. “But then again… we feed those.”

“Wow… don’t enlighten me.” Jason muttered. He had just picked up what felt like a box of papers of photos when a gasp came from Damian’s direction. He glanced back in time to see the kid pull out what had to be a shirt or two and what definitely looked like an old robin costume of Damian’s.

“This is…” Damian cradled it. “Why is it here?”

Jason got a bad feeling in his gut as he scanned the room. He found what looked to be the oldest pile and strode over and shoved his hand deep in the box. The sweater he pulled out was old and the cape that came with it… he closed his eyes even as he let it drop.

“It’s yours?” Tim questioned Jason nodded his eyes clenched tightly. “From before you…”

“He wanted something to hold onto.” Damian’s voice was thick and heavy. “He wanted to remember us.”

“He missed us.” Jason whispered. He had not felt as though he had been missed at all, but for his stuff to be there and he was willing to bet most his stuff was in that box. The reason his stuff was there in this place was so Dick could grieve alone. He really wanted to punch the hypocrite in his face… what happened to letting people be there for you? Had he just gathered and gathered stuff and sat in this place and brooded?

A small crash caught his attention Tim had knocked over the box Jason had originally been dealing with. The photos and albums piled on the floor and the three of them looked at it before they looked at each other.

X

“Well it was mine first so I’m just taking it back.” Damian shrugged. The room had finally started to look like the place Jason had remembered. From time to time Tim or Damian would exclaim because they found something that commemorated their time with Dick. Jason left them to that because honestly there was more of that for them than him.

He settled himself with going through the photos sorting them out for people who might want them. The first worn album he had flipped through had been full of Dick and Barbara. Silly photos, normal photos, couple kissy photos. Jason was not sure if she was ready for them but he would hold onto them and tell her he had them.

He had been intensely glad the other two were across the room when he opened the next album. As it was his eyebrows had risen because good god. Dick had no shame. He knew Kory had no shame and he was fine with that but he had never known the Titans had no shame either. The pictures he had seen made his jaw drop before he caught himself.

He was taking some and shoving them in Roy’s face just to see his expression. Hell he was taking the Wally ones too because he had never seen any of it coming.

Kory’s ones… well she was definitely getting all of them. Jason was sad he saw most of them; he was embarrassed enough for everyone.

With caution he went through the others. Putting them aside into piles. No one had heard from Supes after the funeral so Jason put the Dick and Clark related pictures he found to one side. There were from various places and occasions. Some of him in the Nightwing costume. Some as Robin and most in plain clothes. Bruce was in some too obviously not posing just scowling while Dick and Clark seemed to be enjoying themselves for the camera.

It was just kind of heart breaking. The pictures that they had not even known existed. Jason shook his head at the pictures of Damian and Tim in uniform. Sometimes, most of the time unaware but Dick in the side of the photo laughing.

Love, the photos were filled with it. All kinds of love for all of them. People who they rarely got along with. People who he never thought would get along with them. There were some pictures of Nightwing and Gordan with Batman’s back in the corner. Jason put it aside because he knew the old man would love that one.

His eyebrows shot up at the pictures he stumbled across from early in Nightwing’s career. When he saw the old man and Dick’s smiling faces he hesitated before he put it aside. That picture did explain a few things that did not make sense.

They had all those piles and most of them were finally kid friendly but if any of them saw Dick naked or someone else naked… they were Robins after all. They had seen worse.

“Amazing.” Tim breathed. “I never knew he had all these.”

“I think that was the point.” Jason mused as he stumbled across a pretty recent picture. Dick and Bruce, the former on the arm of Bruce’s chair and the latter looking at Dick with a resigned face even as a smile teased the corner of his mouth. Jason looked at that picture for a while before he put it in a pile.

X

“I didn’t know if you would want them.” Jason muttered awkwardly. “But they were there and well you can always toss them.”

Slade glanced at the package in his hand before he nodded and faded into the night. Jason watched him go and felt like a bit of weight had left his shoulders.

X

He dropped the pile of photos onto Bruce’s desk and watched the man’s face go carefully blank. “Don’t even try.” He said dryly. “How long?” He nodded to the pile before he randomly picked one. He flipped it over to show Bruce the small smile on Dick’s face and the small smile on Bruce’s own as Dick leaned on Bruce’s shoulder to take the selfie. It would be innocent unless you ignored the kissmark on Dick’s neck.

“Jason.” Bruce said tiredly and he sounded so old.

“That’s why you seem like you’re going to break isn’t it? It’s different. Losing anyone, losing a son hurts Bruce doesn’t it.” Jason pressed. “But losing a lover really burns doesn’t it?” Bruce’s eyes flashed at him and he crossed his arms. “If you didn’t want anyone to know you should have never let him take pictures. How long?”

“After… Damian.” Bruce looked older. Almost ashamed. “We… I” He sighed and someone looked even older. “I’m not perfect Jason.”

“Choir Bruce… Choir.” Jason took a deep breath of his own. “That place of his was like a memorial you know? A shrine where he puts all the memories. Like what you do except it isn’t the uniform and a nameplate. It is pictures and clothes and things you did together places you went together… he was hurting Bruce.”

“I know.” Bruce swallowed. “I know he was.”

“He was supposed to be the one that looked forward. He was the one that was for the sun Bruce… I- I don’t know what to say.”

The corner of Bruce’s mouth lifted in a smile. “None of us is perfect and one thing Dick wanted was mementos of his family. He always regretted that he didn’t have more from his old family. Losing you, leaving the rest of you. Having others of you hurt… he needed something to touch. Something to look at and feel and know that the pain he was in was worth it.” Bruce cleared his throat. “Because he loved us.” Jason would have said Bruce was infallible but he saw the sheen of tears in the man’s eyes.

With a sigh he took a seat. “I can’t believe you hid it from us.”

“It was none of your business. Also inappropriate.” Bruce shifted as he tried to move the pictures and Jason eyed him.

“Age difference bothered you huh?” Bruce tensed slightly before he continued to ignore him. “Did you ever manage to tell him?” Bruce’s eyes shot to him before he looked away. A sigh from Bruce before the man unlocked a drawer for his desk. When he pulled out a small black box and raised an eyebrow at Jason, Jason felt his mouth drop open before Bruce flipped open the box to reveal the ring. “You proposed?” He asked hoarsely.

“First yes.” A flush ran up Bruce’s neck. “He said no. That I wasn’t thinking clearly. This is the ring he proposed to me with.” The box clicked back closed. “I believe the ring I gave him, Damian retrieved from the apartment.”

“You really can keep a secret.” Jason said softly. A distant look came to Bruce’s eye and he sighed. “Look if you want someone to talk to about it… I mean I didn’t let the brats see the pictures or anything and I know you prefer to brood and blame yourself but… talk to someone.” He got to his feet. “For what is worth there are more pictures of you two and stuff you bought him than anyone else.” A sad smile came to Bruce’s mouth. Jason got up to leave and when he glanced back behind him, Bruce had taken up a few of the pictures on the desk and had a smile on his face while he looked at them. Jason softly closed the door behind him.

X

“Bruce.” The voice above him was familiar and insistent, the hands that came to rest on his shoulder were the same. “Just when are you going to tell them? No before that… why did you let them clean my place out?”

“Because you’re dead Dick.” Bruce answered before he tugged Dick around and down to land in his lap. Dick wrapped an arm around his neck immediately. “And they insisted. I couldn’t say no.”

“They are going to hate us so much when they find out.” Dick sighed.

“You were dead.” Bruce hissed. His hands pressed to Dick’s chest which had been still and silent for too long.

“For like two days.” Dick muttered. “At least tell Clark, he’s still moping.”

“He’ll recover.” Bruce muttered. “All of them will, you of all people know what danger we’re facing.”

“Uh huh.” Dick muttered. “At least try to pay attention to them and stop playing the griever so damn well, they need the understanding Bruce not the guilt ridden, angry Bruce.”

“I’ll take it into consideration.” Bruce shrugged. Dick groaned softly and Bruce smiled before he adjusted Dick on his lap. “Now… what kind of Bruce do you need for…” His eye fell on the clock. “The next hour and half?” The grin that spread across Dick’s face made him intensely glad he had Dick in his life, that he had not lost him. Dick leaned up towards him and their lips met. Bruce’s eyes slid shut at the familiar taste and touch. He could only hope the family would forgive them when the truth came out.


End file.
